UK appoints BlackRock as advisor on RBS review

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s finance ministry has appointed BlackRock to advise on whether it should break up part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), it said on Friday.

The BlackRock logo is seen outside of its offices in New York January 18, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

BlackRock will provide specialist advice on RBS assets and joins investment bank Rothschild ROT.UL and lawyers Slaughter & May as advisers on the review, which is expected to be completed by the autumn.

Finance minister George Osborne said in June that Britain would examine whether to split the bank, in which it owns an 81 percent stake, hiving off its remaining toxic loans into a so-called ‘bad bank’. Supporters of the proposal say that would leave the ‘good bank’ better placed to lend and help stimulate Britain’s economy.